Field Trip!

Have wellies. . . .

. . . . .will travel!

Thus without further ado we were off to the R. Seawright Gardens
where hostas and daylilies flourish,

. . . and little red wagons await a helping hand to lead them through the wooded paths!

The shady hosta gardens are cool and refreshing on a hot summer day,

feature a tremendous variety of plants,

and some new inspiration as to how one might arrange them!

The wee folk in our party, however, found this small pond . . . .

. . . . . and its residents of far greater interest.

Eventually the woods gave way to endless fields of daylilies.

Rumor has it they will be in full blossom round about the second week in July
and that plein air painters will flock
to the glorious site!

After numerous loops around the farm it was time to make our final selections.

Which came with a few would-be stowaway worms!

Kiosk in sight. . . . .

. . . . .the little red wagon was toted along the last leg of our adventure,

after which it happily returned to his comrades-in-arms.

Springtime Sluggishness

The deep freeze of winter settled well into my bones this year and the defrosting process seemed to take forever. Most days found me scrambling to get a move on and accomplish something. . . . . . anything! Project baskets remained sparse, blog posts ideas floated away unwritten, laundry piled up, and the poor house longed for open windows and a bout of spring cleaning. With the arrival of May Day, however, I decided enough was enough and headed out to discover I wasn't the only mama in arrears. . . . .

. . . . . Mother Nature herself must have been playing hookie as well! Just look at the condition of the lilacs I discovered! A sad state of affairs when compared to . . . . .

. . . . . this glorious blossom that meet me on last year's May Day romp.

I did find violas in abundance but the hostas have just barely begun to unfold.

The faithful Forsythia was still in flower. . . . .

. . . . .and our runt of an apple tree had a special surprise. For the first time ever in its three years with us blossoms have actually made an appearance! Whether or not apples will follow matters not for this little miracle was enough to finally thaw me out to the core!

With motivation in hand I headed out back to our 4x4 garden plot. Anyone remember the brief mention I made of it last year? Unfortunately we had a bit of a late start on the square foot gardening endeavor and so missed out on a harvest of peas and spinach. This year, however, I'm just on time. With a quick once over to remove the bits of last year's plantings and a restringing of the plots, all was set for some early seeds. Now we have something to look forward to! Liking how that felt set me to work on a bit more in the planning department. . . . .

. . . . . dates were set to sow a few more flowers out and about the yard and a wish list of New England houses it would be fun to visit during the summer holiday was created.

A lucky find at an antique shop (thanks mom!) this book has me ever so excited to explore the delightful dwellings of Dickinson, Hawthorne, and Alcott. To be honest I've already been to Alcott's Orchard House several times but since hubby has yet to set foot in the enchanted domicile I think it would be fun to take him. If I sugar coat it with a lunch date I'm sure a good time will be had by all!

Another lucky find was this one made by me....(thanks me!) The buttons I snatched up without a second thought but the fabric had me in a tizzy. It was a lot of five pieces, four had been stitched at some point in time into curtain panels while the fifth was apparently the leftover yardage. I loved the print immediately and was envisioning cottage curtains before I even realized the preliminary stitching had already been done by someone else of like mind. Buying them, however, would mean a change up in my current window treatment situation and change of any sort I tend to avoid. I have come to learn that seemingly harmless purchases, such as a bundle of vintage fabric, can oh so easily lead to full scale redecorating endeavours involving furniture shifting, painting, chalking, and of course a catastrophe or two in the process.

But this little detail on the selvage was so endearing. . . . .

. . . . .as was the sweet pattern name of "Sunnyhill," that all caution was thrown to the wind and home it came with me. With the bright sunny days of summer ahead who knows, I might actually be inspired into a bit of redecorating. . . . .

With a Sigh of Relief.....

. . . . . I have returned to let you know all's well, ends well. My portion of the program last Saturday went off without a hitch. The women at the doll club were so friendly and welcoming it felt more of a chat session than the school time oral presentation I was having nightmares over. The Lilies were well received and had an opportunity to meet up with some very exquisite Hitties at the tea party that followed. Such fun ensued that I stayed far longer than anticipated.

Upon my eventual return home that night I promised the kids I would not put a hand to needle, thread, keyboard, or mouse for the rest of the weekend. Instead a trip to the mall, a Mexican meal, and a movie marathon had been planned. In order to make a '"sweet" contribution to our family fun, I took to the baking cupboard. Having recently gone gluten-free this is not quite as simple as it once was. Our long standing favorites are greatly missed, especially Fanny Farmer's fabulous "Lazy Daisy Cake." Digging through the ingredients on hand, however, I found I had the makings for an "Easy French Apple Pie." I also found something else...look close...closer...do you see it?

My pen! I remember now this seemed a safe place to secretly stash it while I was putting away the few groceries I had also acquired during that outing. Seemed as if happy endings were abundant. . . . the Lilies were a success, I'd found my pen, and. . . .

. . . . .the apple pie was a success! So much so in fact, only a tiny sliver remained to accompany my tea time this afternoon.

Paired up with the task of preparing tags for some new listings I was able to stretch out the moments between spoonfuls, savoring each and every bite!

Finally, with prep work behind me and tummy content it was time to turn my attention to encouraging a few more happy endings. Lily June (seen back there with her knitting) was listed in the shop in hopes of finding her very own home sweet home. Hollie Belle will soon follow in her heals as she too looks for her happily ever after!

All Done!

Well not quite. . . . . now I have to pack it all up!

Tiny Tags!

Knowing I had a some tag making tasks ahead of me and also knowing all of my favorite Pigma Micron pens have gone missing ever since the kiddos discovered how well they work, I popped into Joann's this morning and picked up a brand new one just for me! I love the 0.25 mm size best as it is just right for delicate work. In order to keep it safe from all the heavy hands and sticky fingers in the house I squirreled it away someplace really safe and out of sight as soon as I came in the door. Unfortunately several hours later when I was ready to start scripting away I'd already forgotten where I'd put it! In the end I had to scrounge up an old, slightly mangled Micron from the crayon box and make it do.

Handy Helpers

A few of the girlies worked on the display today

leaving me free to take a bit of a break!

Almost.....

Late at night with Lily Lucinda. . . . .

have decided to leave the last little stitches for the light of a new day.

Sewing Aside....

What to say, what to say? Am suddenly having flashbacks to my Oral Communications class in high school and wondering why in the world I didn't make the connection between "giving a presentation" and talking in front of a group of people. The homework table had an extra "student" this evening, unfortunately this one sat down and proceeded to plagiarize the article she wrote last year in order to assure she had some words to send out of her mouth come Saturday! The kids thought it was a riot. All I could think of was sweaty palms and a twisted tongue.

Pincushion Petite Fours

The Bitty Belles are complete!

New Arrivals!

A hearty welcome to Miss Lily Maud who made her first appearance earlier this afternoon. She was soon followed by our mail delivery in which I discovered a small parcel just for me! Inside was the most delightful copy of Rumer Godden's book The Doll's House, an absolute all time favorite of mine. The story centers on Tottie, a little wooden doll, and the dollhouse that arrives into the lives of her and the small family of dolls to which she belongs. The illustrations, by Tasha Tudor, are charming of course but the fact that some of them were originally printed in color something I never knew until today!

This and That

Finding myself short a few little friendly faces brought the opportunity for some pleasant painting.

Finishing touches by way of signing Mary's cushion base and bestowing her lamb with a bitty blossom.

Affixing fabric tags to the ditty bags.

Hunting and Gathering

Although my body was fairly stationary as I sat making tiny stitches today, my mind ran a marathon! At first I attempted putting my mental lists to paper but eventually decided putting my feet to action would be far more productive. Considering there are a mere 8 days left it wouldn't hurt to start working on a display and so I raided the house of a shelf or two, found a few props from when I did craft shows, and collected up all the bits and pieces that would go along with the presentation. It's all still a bit jumbled and in need of some organization but at least my brain is free and clear now to focus on finishing up all the WIPs that have taken over the sewing nook.

Handmade Husbandry

Mary had a little lamb

whose fleece was made of felt,

And every time he looked at her

her heart was sure to melt!

Have Tray Will Travel

With a wee one under the weather and home from school sequestering myself up in the nook for the day was out of the question. Instead I snagged a handy tray onto which I gathered up a pile of the pincushion bases (or "lily pads" as I've taken to calling them) along with an assortment of the threads, ruffles, and trims needed to deck them out properly. I then proceeded to plop myself downstairs where I could accompany my little sick friend. Its been our long standing rule that he who is sick gains control of the remote and so I stitched and he sniffled while we both shuddered at the creatures encountered through the space/time anomalies of BBC's Primeval!

Pint Sized Pillows

Although it rained outside for a good portion of the day, the sewing nook was alive with busy bees. While I directed my attention to the completion of more pincushion dolls, Lucy and Lily Red put their tiny but talented hands to work in the production of patchwork pillows. At this rate they'll have a good sized pile ready for show and tell on the 19th. Hope I'm as proficient in my progress!

Miniature Millinery

I spent far more time than expected in the creation of a hat for one of the Belles. It was my heart's desire for her to have a ruffled dust cap like the one worn by Lily Marie. Unfortunately scaling it down to the appropriate size remains beyond my capabilities. Someday I'll try again using a fine batiste which may prove easier to gather up than my quilting cotton did. As an alternative I created this petite pilgrim bonnet and do believe I like it so much I'll have to work next on scaling it up to a Lily size!

But for now I introduce you to Stella Belle, the first of the 11 pincushion dolls I plan to have ready for the program now just 13 days in the future!